Gaza school shelter hit by Israeli airstrike as displaced families slept

China

Gaza school shelter hit by Israeli airstrike as displaced families slept

2025-07-09 20:16 Last Updated At：20:37

Multiple people were killed and others injured following an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced civilians in Al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza on Tuesday.

Adnan Wishah, a displaced Palestinian living in the camp, said his family members were just sleeping when explosions shook the area, setting everything on fire and burning innocent civilians.

"We and our children were sleeping. Suddenly, a loud sound erupted. Boom! Boom! Boom! We thought it was inside our tent. We jumped up and started running. We found the whole area in flames. We live at the far end of the school. One was shouting, 'My son is downstairs,' another, 'My daughter is upstairs.' And someone else was yelling, 'Help them!' People were burned and charred here. People were charred here. They hadn't done anything wrong. As you can see, it's just displaced people's tents in the middle of a school. They don't even have a decent place to stay in. They burned everything down on us. As for those who claim that UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) locations are safe, Look! This was either a warplane wing or a drone. Only God knows what they used to bomb us. People were sleeping peacefully. They had done nothing. As you can see, look! People are collecting what's left. People were completely burned," he said.

Another displaced Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Jabr, added that the school was hit by drones, with powerful blasts killing and injuring many.

"This incident was targeting displaced people. It was hit by suicide drones. Three drones in total. We were near the location at the time of the three explosions in the camp. We were shocked to find that the targets were the tents of displaced people inside a shelter school. The attack left a number of people martyred or several injured. And there was a massive fire at the site. The explosion was extremely, extremely powerful, to the point where people thought it was an air strike by warplanes. But in reality, it was a suicide drone strike. That's what happened," he said.

The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 57,575, with 136,879 injured since the conflict between Hamas and Israel erupted on October 7, 2023, Gaza's health authorities said in a statement on Tuesday.

Venezuelan acting president calls for national unity amid complex situation

Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez said on Sunday that the country is at a critical stage and must achieve national unity, emphasizing that maintaining internal cohesion is of utmost importance.

In a televised address, Rodriguez called on the public to continue trusting the government under the current highly complex political circumstances.

Her statement comes in the wake of a January 3 military operation conducted by the United States, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were taken into custody and flown out of the country.

The operation resulted in at least 100 fatalities.

Rodriguez, who was sworn in as acting president two days later on January 5, framed her appeal for unity against this backdrop of external intervention.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information Freddy Nanez denounced the U.S. actions as a "war crime of the 21st century" when speaking at an international cultural event on Sunday.

Nanez condemned not only the January 3 airstrikes but also the associated cyber and electromagnetic attacks.

He accused the United States of violating international law through the forced removal of President Maduro and his wife, while attacks on civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, represent a flagrant breach of humanitarian norms.

He reiterated that the stigmatization and military attacks against Venezuela are driven by economic interests, particularly the desire to control its abundant natural resources.